This invention relates generally to sugar making machinery and more particularly to devices and methods for achieving improvements in sugar centrifugals which provide enhanced molasses/sugar crystal separation efficiency.
Sugar making requires several operations for separating massecuite into sugar crystals and molasses (or run-off), its two components. In all cases except for separation of high grade sugar crystals, the crystals are re-melted and further refined. The quality and integrity of the crystals after separation is therefore of minimal consequence except in the case of high grade sugar.
Broken crystals require downgrading of sugar product, and they must, therefore, be avoided. However, the viscosity of the molasses component of the massecuite requires centrifugal separation in order to free the sugar crystals of the surrounding syrup. The high discharge velocity and resultant high gravity forces imposed on the massecuite by the centrifugals frequently results in excessive damage to the sugar crystals.
Reducing centrifugal operating speed will reduce crystal impact damage, but it also reduces production and it leaves more water and syrup on the crystals which results in lump and cake formation during storage. This is a very undesirable trade-off but is an expected draw-back of the high viscosity of the molasses. Excessive water addition for rinsing sugar crystals and diluting the molasses results in waste of water and in increased energy consumption for subsequent evaporation.
The foregoing illustrates limitations known to exist in present devices and methods. Thus, it is apparent that it would be advantageous to provide an alternative directed to overcoming one or more of the limitations set forth above. Accordingly, a suitable alternative is provided including features more fully disclosed hereinafter.